There are many different pathways for an MSN so you have to find what you love doing on a daily basis. There is nursing admin, informatics, NP, CNS, CRNA, nursing education, and many others.

Dec 6, '12

Unlike basic nursing programs, an MSN pretty much locks you into a particular professional role and career path. I would encourage you strongly to figure out what you want to do with your nursing career, and that will direct you to which MSN concentration you should pursue (or whether you would be better served by some other form of further education ). Whatever advanced degree you get in nursing will cost you a lot of time, effort, and $$$. It's worth putting in the time and effort up front to make sure you are going to end up with a degree that's going to get you to where you want to be.

I've known several people (and I'm sure that the people I've known personally are not the only individuals in this situation) who got into nursing via a direct-entry MSN program, or rushed into grad school from nursing school, who ended up, after they put the blood, sweat, and tears into getting through grad school, finding out that they didn't like doing what the degree prepared them to do. Then, they're stuck with a graduate degree they don't want, the student loans to pay for it, and trying to figure out what they do want to do so they can go get another degree. Not a happy place to be ...